Pentecost Sunday
Matthew,
Chapter 25, verse 24-25:
24
Then the one who
had received the one talent came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a
demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you
did not scatter; 25so out of fear I went off and buried your
talent in the ground. Here it is back.’
Christ is always trying to draw
us away from fear to having a relationship of love and peace with the Trinity.
For if we live our faith in fear we will be like the person who buried his only
talent. We must if filled with the love and joy of Christ go forth bravely to
build Christ’s Kingdom in our own spheres of influence and in our way of
being.
Ask our Lord how he wants you to spend your time
assisting our priests today.
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Holiness
is also parrhesía: it is boldness, an impulse to evangelize and to leave
a mark in this world. To allow us to do this, Jesus himself comes and tells us
once more, serenely yet firmly: “Do not be afraid”. “I am with you always, to
the end of the world”. These words enable us to go forth and serve with the
same courage that the Holy Spirit stirred up in the Apostles, impelling them to
proclaim Jesus Christ. Boldness, enthusiasm, the freedom to speak out, apostolic
fervour, all these are included in the word parrhesía. The Bible also
uses this word to describe the freedom of a life open to God and to others. Blessed
Paul VI, in
referring to obstacles to evangelization, spoke of a lack of fervour (parrhesía)
that is “all the more serious because it comes from within”. How often we are
tempted to keep close to the shore! Yet the Lord calls us to put out into the
deep and let down our nets. He bids us spend our lives in his service. Clinging
to him, we are inspired to put all our charisms at the service of others. May
we always feel compelled by his love and say with Saint Paul: “Woe to me if I
do not preach the Gospel”. Look at Jesus. His deep compassion reached out to
others. It did not make him hesitant, timid or self-conscious, as often happens
with us. Quite the opposite. His compassion made him go out actively to preach
and to send others on a mission of healing and liberation. Let us acknowledge
our weakness, but allow Jesus to lay hold of it and send us too on mission. We
are weak, yet we hold a treasure that can enlarge us and make those who receive
it better and happier. Boldness and apostolic courage are an essential part of
mission. Parrhesía is a seal of the Spirit; it testifies to the
authenticity of our preaching. It is a joyful assurance that leads us to glory
in the Gospel we proclaim. It is an unshakeable trust in the faithful Witness who
gives us the certainty that nothing can “separate us from the love of God”. We
need the Spirit’s prompting, lest we be paralyzed by fear and excessive
caution, lest we grow used to keeping within safe bounds. Let us remember that
closed spaces grow musty and unhealthy. When the Apostles were tempted to let
themselves be crippled by danger and threats, they joined in prayer to implore parrhesía:
“And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to your servants to speak
your word with all boldness”. As a result, “when they had prayed, the place in
which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the
Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness”.
·
Like
the prophet Jonah, we are constantly tempted to flee to a safe haven. It can
have many names: individualism, spiritualism, living in a little world,
addiction, intransigence, the rejection of new ideas and approaches, dogmatism,
nostalgia, pessimism, hiding behind rules and regulations. We can resist
leaving behind a familiar and easy way of doing things. Yet the challenges
involved can be like the storm, the whale, the worm that dried the gourd plant,
or the wind and sun that burned Jonah’s head. For us, as for him, they can
serve to bring us back to the God of tenderness, who invites us to set out ever
anew on our journey.
·
God
is eternal newness. He impels us constantly to set out anew, to pass beyond
what is familiar, to the fringes and beyond. He takes us to where humanity is
most wounded, where men and women, beneath the appearance of a shallow
conformity, continue to seek an answer to the question of life’s meaning. God
is not afraid! He is fearless! He is always greater than our plans and schemes.
Unafraid of the fringes, he himself became a fringe. So if we dare to go to the
fringes, we will find him there; indeed, he is already there. Jesus is already
there, in the hearts of our brothers and sisters, in their wounded flesh, in
their troubles and in their profound desolation. He is already there.
·
True
enough, we need to open the door of our hearts to Jesus, who stands and knocks.
Sometimes I wonder, though, if perhaps Jesus is already inside us and knocking
on the door for us to let him escape from our stale self-centredness. In the
Gospel, we see how Jesus “went through the cities and villages, preaching and
bringing the good news of the kingdom of God”. After the resurrection, when the
disciples went forth in all directions, the Lord accompanied them. This is what
happens as the result of true encounter.
·
Complacency
is seductive; it tells us that there is no point in trying to change things,
that there is nothing we can do, because this is the way things have always
been and yet we always manage to survive. By force of habit we no longer stand
up to evil. We “let things be”, or as others have decided they ought to be. Yet
let us allow the Lord to rouse us from our torpor, to free us from our inertia.
Let us rethink our usual way of doing things; let us open our eyes and ears,
and above all our hearts, so as not to be complacent about things as they are,
but unsettled by the living and effective word of the risen Lord.
·
We
are inspired to act by the example of all those priests, religious, and laity
who devote themselves to proclamation and to serving others with great
fidelity, often at the risk of their lives and certainly at the cost of their
comfort. Their testimony reminds us that, more than bureaucrats and
functionaries, the Church needs passionate missionaries, enthusiastic about
sharing true life. The saints surprise us, they confound us, because by their
lives they urge us to abandon a dull and dreary mediocrity.
·
Let
us ask the Lord for the grace not to hesitate when the Spirit calls us to take
a step forward. Let us ask for the apostolic courage to share the Gospel with
others and to stop trying to make our Christian life a museum of memories. In
every situation, may the Holy Spirit cause us to contemplate history in the
light of the risen Jesus. In this way, the Church will not stand still, but
constantly welcome the Lord’s surprises.
Fifty days
after Easter, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles is one of the
three great feasts of the liturgical year.
What is Pentecost? The solemn anniversary of the day on which the Holy
Ghost came down, under the appearance of fiery tongues, upon Mary the Mother of
Jesus, and His apostles and disciples, who were assembled in prayer at
Jerusalem. To express her joy at the descent of the Holy Ghost, the Church
sings, at the Introit of the Mass, The Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole
earth, alleluia, and that which containeth all things, hath knowledge of the
voice, alleluia, alleluia. Let God arise, and His enemies be scattered; and let
them that hate Him fly before His face.
Why does the Church celebrate this day so solemnly? To praise and thank God for
sending the Holy Ghost, Who gave so many spiritual graces and fruits to men.
Why did the Holy Ghost appear under visible signs? It was done to attract
attention, and to indicate outwardly what took place inwardly. The roar of the
mighty wind, according to the language of the prophets, pointed to the
approaching Godhead, and was intended to announce something extraordinary. The
appearance of tongues signified the gift of languages, and the division of them
the difference of gifts imparted by the Holy Ghost. The fire which lightens,
warms, and quickly spreads, denoted the love of God, the power and joy with
which the apostles, and mankind through them, should be filled, and indicated
the rapid extension of Christianity.
What were the effects of the descent of the Holy
Ghost upon the apostles?
Being enlightened and made acquainted with all truth, freed from all fear and
faint-heartedness, and undaunted, the apostles preached everywhere Christ
crucified, and for love of Him endured with joy all sufferings. Their
discourses were understood by all present, as if they had carefully learned
each particular language. From that time Christianity spread with wonderful
rapidity throughout the whole world. Pray the Holy Ghost to-day to enlighten
you also, to inflame you with holy love, and to give you strength daily to
increase in all goodness.
Why is the Holy Ghost called a spirit, and the Holy
Spirit? Because
He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is as it were, the Spirit of the
Father and the Son.
What does the Holy Ghost effect in men? He renews their hearts, by
cleansing them from sin, by imparting to them the sanctification and likeness
to God gained through Christ, together with all these supernatural gifts and
graces by which they can become holy and happy, and brings forth in them
wonderful fruits of sanctity.
Which are these gifts of the Holy Ghost? The seven following:
1. The gift
of wisdom, which teaches us to value the heavenly more than the earthly,
infuses into us a longing for the same, and points out to us the right means to
salvation.
2. The gift
of understanding, which enlightens us to rightly understand the
mysteries and doctrines of our holy religion.
3. The gift
of counsel in doubtful cases, which enables us to know what to do or
omit, and what to advise others. This gift is particularly necessary for
superiors, for those who are changing their state of life, and for those who
are entangled in perplexing and unfortunate marriage relations.
4. The gift
of fortitude, which banishes all timidity and human respect, strengthens
a man to hate sin, and steadfastly to practice virtue; preferring contempt, temporal
loss, persecution, and even death, to denying Christ by word or deed.
5. The gift
of knowledge, by which the Holy Ghost enlightens us with an inner light,
that we may know ourselves, the snares of self-love, of our passions, of the
devil, and of the world, and may choose the fittest means to overcome them.
6. The gift
of piety and devotion, which infuses into us veneration for God and
divine things, and joy in conversing with Him.
7. The gift
of the fear of God, that childlike fear, which dreads no other
misfortune than that of displeasing God, and which accordingly, flees sin as
the greatest evil.
Which are the fruits of the Holy Ghost? They are the twelve following:
1. Charity.
2.
Joy.
3. Peace.
4. Patience.
5. Benignity.
6. Goodness.
7. Longsuffering.
8. Mildness.
9. Faith.
10. Modesty.
11.
Continency.
12.
Chastity. (If you wish to climb these stairs start here)
These fruits
should be visible in the Christian, for thereby men shall know that the Holy
Ghost dwells in him, as the tree is known by its fruit.
What is Whitsunday or White Sunday? The liturgical color of this
Sunday is red in order to recall the tongues of flame that descended on the
Apostles. The old English name for Pentecost, Whitsunday, originated from the
custom of the newly baptized redonning their white robes for the services of
the day. By extension this could also apply to the new Easter clothes worn by
the faithful fifty days earlier.
The Dove
Like Ascension Thursday, Whitsunday was once
the occasion for several liturgical eccentricities. Many medieval churches, for
example, had a Holy Ghost Hole in the ceiling of the church from which a large
blue disk bearing the figure of a white dove would swing slowly down to the
congregation during the Mass sequence, Veni Sancte Spiritus. Midway through the
sequence, the disk would stop and from the Holy Ghost hole would rain symbols
of the Spirit: flowers, water, even burning pieces of straw. A practice far
less susceptible to excess, on the other hand, is the use of beautifully carved
and painted wooden doves in the home. These figures would usually be suspended
over the dinner table, and would sometimes be encased in glass, having been
assembled entirely from within (much like the wooden ships assembled in
bottles). The painstaking effort that went into making these doves serves as a
reminder to cherish the adoration of the Holy Spirit.
The Blessed Dew
Though the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit is often described in dramatic terms (a mighty
wind, tongues of fire, etc.), it is also portrayed in soothing, comforting
ways. The Whitsunday sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus, for example, calls the
Spirit our "sweet refreshment" (dulcis refrigerium), while the postcommunion
prayer, in an allusion to Isaiah 45.8, refers to the "inward sprinkling of
His heavenly dew." Hence there arose the charming superstition that the
morning dew of Whitsunday is especially good luck. To obtain a blessing, people
would walk barefoot through the meadows before Mass and would even feed their
animals with bread wiped by the dew.
Age of the Holy
Spirit
Where we are is the age of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost is often called the birthday of the Church because even though the
Apostles were transformed by earlier events such as the institution of the
Eucharist and priesthood on Maundy Thursday or their acquiring the power to
forgive sins on Easter afternoon, they - and by extension, the Church - did not
really come into their own until the Paraclete inspired them to burst out of
their closed quarters and spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And just
as Pentecost marks the birthday of the Church in the Holy Spirit, so too does
the Time after Pentecost mark the life of the Church moving through the
vicissitudes of history under the protection and guidance of that same Spirit.
It is for this reason that the epistle readings from this season emphasize the
Apostles' advice to the burgeoning churches of the day while its Gospel
readings focus on the kingdom of heaven and its justice. It is also the reason
why the corresponding lessons from the breviary draw heavily from the history
of the Israelite monarchy in the Old Testament. All are somehow meant to teach
us how to comport ourselves as citizens of the city of God as we pass through
the kingdoms of this world.
Daily Devotions
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Please
pray for me and this ministry
·
Please
Pray for Senator
McCain and our country; asking Our Lady of Beauraing to
intercede.
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